Happy Women's Day! 👩🏻‍💼 To commemorate this year's international women's day, we spoke with three leaders from the UAE insurance industry. We asked them about their approach to advancing gender diversity and inclusion within the industry, navigating complex situations, and their leadership style. We also discussed in detail some of the common challenges women face in the insurance industry, especially within the Middle East; we delved into some practical actions women can take and what the broader ecosystem can do for women to thrive in their workplace. It was a fascinating panel discussion, and we urge our listeners to tune in to know how each of us, whether we are a man or a woman or someone in a position of power, use the influence to build an equitable system. ☯️ Thank you, Mina Sahib, Caroline Bertrand, and Tanja Magas, for leading the conversation and making it an extraordinary episode! 👏 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

In our latest episode, we spoke with Mohamed Seghir, CEO of HAYAH Insurance, UAE's recently branded insurance company that specializes in life, medical, and savings.   It was a delightful chat as we dug deeper into how Mohamed Seghir went about rebranding and redesigning the organization which was previously AXAGreen Crescent, before AXA Gulf's exit from the region. We spoke about HAYAH's ideal customer and the behaviors which drive their digital strategy, trends that are shaping the life & health insurance market, how AI shapes their product strategies, and how a cool & young organization cannot be run by one cool person or a single 'cool' department. 😁😎 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

FS Brew spoke with Lars Gehrmann from QIC Digital Venture Partners and got exclusive details about the #MENA-wide #startup challenge they recently launched!   We also spoke to him about the gaps in the insurance ecosystem in the region for innovative insurtechs to take shape here and what is QIC Digital Venture Partners doing to fill those gaps. Through this #startup challenge leading up to a summit that is to take place in May this year, the selected start-ups will get access to RI capacity, venture-building support, and access to talent, amongst others! Listen in to learn more about this exciting #challenge! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

In our first episode of #FSBrewInternational for 2023, we speak with the passionate and exuberant, Rohit Nambiar, Group CEO of Tune Protect, based in KL Malaysia! This interview was a playbook on how to run an insurance company that is 'fit-for-purpose' in all aspects- customer, employee, business strategy, culture, partnerships...you name it, Rohit had clear views on what it takes to run a successful D2C and a parallel, flourishing B2B components of the business! Some of the things we've spoken in length are: - Tune Protect's Business model- their D2C proposition, reinsurance business which is spread across 60 countries and a white-labelled tech which is even present in the Middle East and used by leading airlines and travel agents! - Their D2C proposition in ML is focussed on Gen Z and millenials and hence their major workforce are from this generation! - Their work culture is to keep it 'fun and uncomfortable'...yes, uncomfortable! - Their laser focus since Rohit took over the business during COVID 2020, their NPS score for the employees has moved from -20 to +20 and the customer NPS score has moved from -14 to +38! - Moving away from traditional metrics like GWP, NEP, they track 4 key metrics closely- no.of customers added per month, are they buying more products, are they staying longer with Tune Protect and finally, is the average premium growing - Secret sauce- their digital capabilities and their ability to turn around a product to market in matter of days versus months taken by typical insurers - their role in Middle East and future plans - Interesting products such as consignment insurance and 14 variations to travel insurance product! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

UAE Insurance Market: 2022 Roundup and 2023 Predictions. Today we have a very special episode on how 2022 has been for the insurance companies in the UAE so far and potentially what that means in terms of how we will be ending the year and setting the tone for 2023. Has 2022 been one of the worst years for the insurers? Will 2023 be any different? To answers some of the burning questions, we have with us Navin Ghorawat, who is a senior manager at Badri Consultancy. Navin, in a recent event, spoke about the UAE Insurance market performance and drivers & findings. And we simply had to get him online to chat with us more about it. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

In FS Brew's latest HYPE episode, we deep dive into Open Insurance to understand:   - What is open insurance? - Who are the suitable partners who can benefit from open insurance - International examples & use cases - Business and technology readiness to build open insurance capabilities - Product lines and sectors that make sense for the region to benefit from open insurance  - Finally, the all-important regulations required to bring this concept to life!   #openinsurance #fsbrew #insurance #insurtech #embeddedinsurance --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's our interview with Walid Daniel Dib, Co-founder, and CEO of Hala Insurance, the OG millennial insurtech founder from the #UAE!  We spoke with Walid on many nuances and factors involved in running an agile insurance start-up brand like Hala:  🎯Hala's business model- tech seems like the starting point...surprisingly, it is not!  🔍Test & learn culture- using hypotheses versus assumptions to test & learn product fit  🤑How did they go about building their first set of customers...did the #cacstack-up?  🏝️That one 'trend' they are keen to develop... is exciting as it is micro-level penetration of insurance  💸Current VC and funding environment outlook for insurtechs ®️Regulatory wishlist to develop the market not just within the UAE but the Middle East as a whole  🔭Drawing inspiration from other markets like #India, #Singapore, and #EU countries and start-ups, he closely tracks --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's our #newswithanalysis episode after long! 💃🏻 In this episode, we've picked trending #news pieces from the #uae market exclusively, because there's just SO MUCH going on!  🎂Shory - (we had to start with this!), our review about the Shory digital experience so far, their 'socially invested' angle and more   📄Policybazaar UAE - tie-up with Adamjee Insurance UAE to provide exclusive #healthinsurance products to cater to the #Pakistani residents in the UAE and their family back home; 🏹SALAMA - Islamic Arab Insurance Co. - seemingly renewed strategy with multiple exclusive and interesting tie-ups; special shout-out to their #Kindness campaign #KindBeingsofDubai 🚀InsuranceMarket.ae™ By AFIA Insurance Brokerage Services LLC- many interesting activities like their partnership with Hero Motorcycle - UAE, and tie up with Dubai National Insurance (DNI) to create #pedalcycleinsurance; special mention to Avinash Babur ACII for TikToking to promote insurance awareness 📲Cardea- we dig deeper into this embedded insurance proposition provider, including their recent build for Petra Insurance Brokers LLC to create www.insured.ae --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's our #FSBrewInternational interview with Andy Ann, CEO of YAS MicroInsurance based in #HongKong. Fascinating conversation and a must-watch for all #insurers aspiring to target or innovate to attract #genz and #millennials as their audiences.  We spoke extensively on many aspects of a customer lifecycle and innovation including:   🔬Extensive customer research to understand the psyche of the #millennialsand #genz that YAS MicroInsurance is targetting- Andy shared some insights that were fascinating and hilarious! 😂   🏃🏻‍♀️Moving away from insuring people and their belongings to time and event-based insurance- a clear shift from a 'limiting' factor of population to a 'limitless' possibility of events 🔮Insuring digital assets, starting with NFTs! 🖼️ 🚴🏻‍♂️Building an ecosystem around each product proposition- hard work that pays off! 🌍Their global plans, including coming into the UAE market! 🤹‍♂️Their amazing progress in the embedded insurance space- including their tie-up with a local transportation company --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

We spoke to Roopa Malhotra- Head of Customer & Digital, APAC, Zurich Insurance Group  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roopamalhotra  APAC is a hugely diverse, exciting and complex landscape to manage with each country having its unique strengths and opportunities. We dug deeper into what it takes to drive digital transformation in the region, building on insurtechs innovation and incumbent's distribution strengths to build a solid insurance business, the importance of people focus a key sauce to success and much more!!   Roopa Malhotra is the Head of Customer & Digital, APAC for Zurich Insurance Group, and became a member of the Zurich Regional Committee in March 2022.  Ms. Malhotra is responsible for driving the digital strategy across the region with customer-focused propositions across channel partners and digital ecosystem players.  Before joining Zurich Group, Ms. Malhotra was Head of Digital for Chubb Insurance in the Asia Pacific. Over the years in the industry, she has gained well-rounded expertise in different aspects, including Natural Catastrophe risk management, digital product development, and partnership management.  Ms. Malhotra started her career in India as a financial analyst with the leading hedge fund - D.E. Shaw Group, before entering the insurance industry and holding positions with AIG and MSIG.   A passionate Diversity and Inclusion champion, Ms. Malhotra was also recognized as one of the rising female leaders in the region by Insurance Business Asia in 2021.  Ms. Malhotra holds an MBA in Finance with certifications in design thinking for innovation, and she is currently pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge. She also actively volunteers at organizations like ‘All Hands and Hearts’ for disaster relief and Singapore’s ‘Alzheimer's Disease Association’ and is a fitness enthusiast.  #asia #zurich #motorinsurance #fsbrew #claims #insurance #lifeinsurance #healthinsurance --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

In our first episode of #FSBrewInternational, we spoke with Nicolo Robba from Lifepal.  Lifepal is the no. 1 B2C #insurance #aggregator in #indonesia. Nicolo Robba is an e-commerce leader in the South East Asia region, and has held senior roles within Alibaba.com and Lazada previously before co-founding Lifepal.  Listen in to Nicolo as we dig deep into what it takes to create a leading insurance brand in one of the most dynamic countries in the world and fastest-growing insurance market (expected to reach $58bn by 2025).   They have a very strong customer value proposition and its success is evident in their whooping 536K followers on Instagram and 9 million monthly visitors to their #website- a feat that is tough achieve for any insurance brand! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

We caught up with Wilson Varghese, General Manager and Head of Operations, Zurich Middle East, part of Zurich Insurance Group.  Wilson spoke in length about the Customer Benefits report recently released by Zurich Middle East and the relevance of this report in order to raise awareness about #lifeinsurance and #BeBetterPrepared. We also spoke about the incredible changes within the health insurance space, the various #trends like #wearables and #tech that are shaping the industry and how an incumbent insurer like Zurich Insurance are gearing up to these changes! We even got to dig deeper into his roles and responsibilities and how keeping the insurance promise- 'claims experience' remains at the heart of his role.  If you are keen to read about Zurich Middle East's Customer Benefits report, click here: https://lnkd.in/drsqHicb --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Check out our interview with wellx.ai founders, Vaibhav Kashyap and Javed Akberali! wellx.ai is the newest #healthinsurance brand in the UAE, rewarding its customers for leading a #healthylifestyle. We spoke in length about: 🧩wellx.ai's business model- its core components, the rewards system, and the business case behind it 🧑🏼‍🤝‍🧑🏿Customer acquisition process- how they acquired their first set of customers, what is working, and their renewed distribution strategy 🐾 Exciting partnerships they now have in place and their future diversification plans 🚦Start-up mindset, their outlook on the funding process in the region And finally, reach out to Javed Akberali if you are seeking to invest in a promising insurtech start-up in the region. The link to the full interview is in the comments section. #insurance #insurtech #fsbrew #uae #dubai #innovation #healthinsurance #funding #founders --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Lars Gehrmann is the Group Chief Digital Officer of Qatar Insurance Group and Head of QIC Digital Venture Partners, a new digital organization with an aim to build and invest in digital ventures, the InsurTech ecosystem, and international partnerships while transforming the way Qatar Insurance Group operates digitally. Lars and the team have injected renewed energy into the region's insurance ecosystem with MENA's 1st Insurtech Hackathon, where the top 6 finalists will pitch in the grand finale at the MENA Insurtech Summit which is being held in Doha on 23rd June!  We spoke to Lars about the QIC Digital Venture Partners, the need for it, the process behind to set this up and the feedback received so far! We also spoke in length about the methodology QIC Digital Venture Partners employs to select and mentor an insurtech start-up.  Every aspiring insurance entrepreneur or anyone interested in the changing trends of the ecosystem should listen to this crisp podcast! Again, we bring to you an audio-only episode for a quick, on-the-go listen!  #insurance #insurtech #hackathon #uae #dubai #doha #qatar --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's our latest podcast episode, a power-packed conversation with Frederik Bisbjerg, Executive Director- Digital & Innovation with Daman - National Health Insurance Company! He's a well-known personality within the insurance industry and has specific and workable tips and insights into running a successful, digital-first insurance business in the region. Amongst a host of things, we spoke about:  🧩 Importance of breaking down the giant digital transformation plan into smaller, 3-month goals  📚Advice to Chief Digital Officers- keep educating your board; use metrics like customer effort score (CES) to articulate the impact  👩🏻‍⚕️Is there a solid business case for reward-based health insurance here in the UAE? Instead of annual rewards, will monthly or even weekly rewards work better?  🔐 Building cloud capability and two-speed IT  🚀Creating a modular architect to create #embeddedinsurance products that can work even in the #metaverse  🧪How to get the chemistry right between incumbent insurers and #insurtech   🐲And examples of organizations who have got it right across all components of digital transformation and CX Many insights and takeaways...this is one you can’t miss!  Also bonus- here is a link Frederik’s top 5 videos on transformation: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr66u13E7VFh5rU5XNCeASKDrcZURRw_x --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

We caught up with Tanja Magas, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Democrance, a UAE- founded #insurtech with the mission to digitalize the value chain for insurers, brokers, and distribution partners.  Tanja digs deep into her role as the Chief Data Officer which involves a multi-layered strategy; she also spoke in length about how insurance is the best-poised industry to utilize the power of advanced ML technology to mitigate fraud.  We also discovered the many service offerings Democrance currently provides, apart from its original offering of #microinsurance.   If you consider yourself a data geek or you are an aspiring data officer, this is the podcast you should not miss! 📻 #insurance #podcast #analytics #ml #uae #data #technology --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's the much-awaited interview with LAVANYA MUNDAYUR, Chief Executive of The New India Assurance Co. Ltd., Dubai.   We spoke in length about various nuances within the #UAE and #India's insurance landscape and much more:  🔭 The New India Assurance Co. Ltd.'s storied history and its purpose of setting up an overseas branch in many countries including here, in the UAE  🎯Commonalities and differences between the 2 markets and the impact of CEPA specifically for NIA  🇮🇳 India, despite its insurance maturity and the longevity of the industry, the penetration rate is less than 2%; the opportunities that lie within and the strategies used to serve many 'Indias' within one India  👩🏻‍⚖️ Shaping women leaders within the insurance industry and creating an environment for them to thrive is key --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

In this episode of HYPE, hosts, Renjit Philip and Vidya Veerapandian discuss #NFTs- what are they; their growing popularity within the region, specifically #dubai becoming a hub (no surprises there!) and the progress made so far within the global insurance sector to 'insure' NFTs. It is an evolving and exciting subject and we at FS Brew think it is one to watch out for! Let us know if you think #NFTs are hype or not! And more importantly, should #insurers in the region quickly cater to this asset? 🔥We are SUPER excited to launch our first-ever contest! 🚀 Check out the episode to know more! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's our conversation with the young, ambitious, and promising duo- Matthieu Etourneau and Talal M. A. from Royal Technologies Limited! They firmly believe to have cracked a profitable distribution strategy for #petinsurance and created a product that will be loved by the people of UAE and soon, the wider GCC. The 'wifi gods' were not with us during the interview, but the chirpy birds in the background and fantastic insights kept us going through this conversation.  Listen in to the full interview to know more about:  🐶 the lessons learnt from the downfall of petinsurance portfolio during 2000s in the UAE 👨‍👧what do the current pet parents want in their #petinsurance 🌳 creating a pet 'ecosystem' is the way to go?  And much more! #petindustry #petinsurance #uae #dubai #insurance #innovation --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message

Here's the much-awaited podcast with our guest, Hatim Maskawala, Managing Director, Badri Management Consultancy.  Hatim spoke with us candidly on many pressing topics that need #insurance industry's attention:   🚖 Motor portfolio running at 'below burn' rates- the knock-on effect of discounting heavily beyond the COVID lockdown period  👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Consolidation and M&A opportunities in the region  🎯 Demystifying IFRS17 and going beyond the 'jargon' intimidation   🔭 Focussing on commercial lines and being 'brave' to retain risk, versus depending on RI  🗂️Bringing underwriting sophistication through GLM and ML   And much more! Please leave us a comment, like, or share. #insurance #data #motorinsurance #commercialinsurance #consolidation #mergers #underwriting --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/fsbrew/message